Mars enters Libra today, and we may feel a little tug, a kind of pull-back on our assertive energies; suddenly it matters to us how what we choose affects others, and it matters to us what they think of us. If we get too wrapped up in this vibe, we end up losing confidence, convinced the world’s a harsh place and we are powerless–but today, reality is functioning more like this: physical and material matters show us the wise or practical thing to do, we just have to be open to seeing it; hope and opportunity are highlighted, again, if we can see them; and the Facts Reveal Truth (Sun enters Scorpio and parallels Jupiter)–and the only way we can miss this latter is if we are so focused on power and its implementation that we can’t see what’s been revealed right in front of us.

Today’s word image is hearing someone speaking very emotionally who you can’t see, and you can’t decide whether they are suffering a stroke and so garbling their speech, or if they are speaking Norwegian (not an uncommon thing to hear in the Seattle area–fill in your own softly silibant Germanic language). Let’s unpack this. The emotion in the voice alerts our primal senses; when we detect elevated stress in other humans, our cave man switches on, our instincts and ‘know but don’t know’ parts of the brain (Sedna)–so that means our animal ‘juices’ are flowing. Then we consider that we’re having difficulty discerning whether the other person is in trouble, or just using a ‘code’ other than we are used to; one would put those animal instincts to good use, jumping into action and helping, while the other not only doesn’t call out to us, it specifically excludes us. This may be about reminding us that not every message comes to us in a form that’s immediately translatable–and that some of those messages carry a kick, the emotions invested by others that are bound to stir us up, too. The need to sort useful and valid info from ginned-up reactionary interpretation and free it from the filters imposed by others (such as a language we don’t know) is ongoing–the information (and by that I mean the answers to our questions) is out there, being transmitted, and the questions are, can you decipher it? do you need to (is the message meant for you)? and does what you’re ‘hearing’ require anything from you at all?

I was off for a medical procedure last week, and there was one delightful bit I wanted to share: I was given some grippy socks that reminded me so much of this: